Description
of content and themes of the Princess Trilogy
The
reaction to the presence of the female Allied soldiers in the
Persian Gulf war brought worldwide attention to the lowly status
of women in Arabia. Incredibly, the Saudis imposed their
restrictions of Muslim women on their non-Muslim women
defenders, as well. Public debate on the irony of liberated,
democratic men and women defending a government that espoused such
restrictions for women caused widespread consternation and
commentary. Around the world, the idea begin to form that one
positive result of the war would be the loosening of the social
customs that keeps Saudi Arabian women relegated to the dark
ages. Sadly, this anticipated change did not happen. In the
aftermath of the war, because of tightened restrictions on women
imposed by the now more powerful religious men, the plight of
these women actually worsened.
One Saudi
woman who watched this turn of events with great disappointment
was a fiery Saudi Princess, a member of the House of Al Saud, the
current rulers of Saudi Arabia. This Princess resolved, upon
seeing the restrictions on women tighten, rather than loosen, that
she would take an unprecedented and dangerous action: she would
once again prevail upon a longtime American friend and writer to
describe to the West, as she had experienced it, the everyday life
of oppression for Muslim women, whether royal princesses or
village tribes women. The author's sources were the true incidents
in the Princess own life, beginning with her childhood, through
her marriage, motherhood and her adult coming of age right up and
through the Gulf war to the present day. In the process of
recording Sultana's life, the Princess Trilogy also recounts the
lives of other women around her: her mother, sisters, aunts,
girlfriends, women servants, as well as the lives of other
significant women who she seeks out or meets by chance. Since
there was personal danger in revealing the secrets of the women of
Saudi Arabia to the West, for the personal safety of the Princess,
the author called her "Sultana."
While
recording the lives of Saudi women, the books, by necessity,
recorded the lives of Saudi men. The author, in the telling of
these true stories, describes how the beliefs and attitudes of
both sexes are shaped and continue to be shaped by a social
culture dating back many centuries. The books portray the
relationships of Saudi men including the Princess' father,
brother, husband, brother-in-laws, uncles and cousins in
their intimate, highly charged, emotional encounters with the
women of their families, as well as with women of other cultures.
From the
author's lively description of this diverse cast of characters,
both male and female, the reader gets a picture of what it is like
to live today, in the ultra-modern Saudi country whose culture is
still steeped in ancient customs. The veil is lifted and western
stereotypes are destroyed as readers follow the lives of Sultana
and those of her family members inside their own homes,
without the covering of veils or the artificiality of the public
ceremony with outsiders. Authentic details, from the description
of Middle eastern clothing, to the expenditure of their fabulous
wealth on desert palaces, to the lavish entertainment and the
extensive travels of the Royal Family, to the strictness of the
religious and social customs that regulate their lives, are
revealed as viewed through the author's description of the lively
character of Sultana.
The most
startling revelation of all, however, is that the lives of the
women in the fabulously wealthy House of Al Saud, even royal
princesses, are repressed and constricted. Under the strict Saudi
interpretation of the laws of the Koran, Muslim women, whatever
their station in life, are punished and penalized for any supposed
violation of a man's family honor. Similar behavior by Muslim
men, however is ignored. What is most moving about this book is
the fact that in the end, after we come to know the fiery
spirit of Sultana, from early days as the baby of the family to
the time she herself is the mother of veiled daughters, we are
saddened along with her that although her individual efforts have
made a difference to various individual women, in reality Sultana
has brought no changes to her repressive society. As a Muslim
woman, she still has little influence. We readers, however,
are inspired by the glow of her interior life and her fierce
challenge to injustice wherever she sees it. Sultana will never
accept her male-dominated world. The example of her spirit
motivates all who read the books in this dramatic trilogy to join
Sultana in the continuing struggle to ensure that every women in
the world is treated with dignity and respect.
|